Common Ground: Islam, Christianity, and Religious Pluralism.

Hussain, Amir

COMMON GROUND: ISLAM, CHRISTIANITY, AND RELIGIOUS PLURALISM.

By Paul L. Heck. Washington: Georgetown University, 2009. Pp. x + 240.

$24.95.

Paul Heck has written that rare book suffused with learning, scholarship, and lived experiences that is accessible to the specialist and nonspecialist alike. It is an excellent way to introduce both the study of Islam and Christian-Muslim dialogue. The book consists of six chapters (as well as a short introduction and conclusion) dealing with the Qur'an and prophethood, ethics and evil, and democracy and human rights. Throughout the book, H. demonstrates that he is not "arguing for the creation of a common ground but instead suggesting its long-standing existence" (5).

Given current negative attitudes to Islam and Muslims, H.'s book provides the appropriate corrections without ever becoming an apology. He begins chapter 1 with an internal Muslim debate about the contradictions between Muslim and Christian understandings of Jesus. This debate highlights the diversity within the House of Islam, illustrating the different ways of being Muslim. In that chapter he introduces the proper comparisons between the Qur'an and the Bible, but also between the Qur'an and Jesus, as ways in which Muslims and Christians have come to experience God. His comparison between Muhammad and Mary is particularly important.

Chapter 3 introduces Islamic ethics and discusses what it means for Muslims to live in the presence of God. H. counters the stereotype that for Muslims Allah is understood as a wrathful God removed from humanity. He writes: "Muslims do not know God as distant or merely transcendent but, through his names, tangibly close--a face at once majestic and beautiful" (85).

H.'s erudition is most illuminating in chapter 4. He begins with the observation that Arabic translations of the New Testament use the term jihad to describe Paul's struggle to make known the word of God (e.g., 2 Cor 10:3; Phil 1:29-30). Most Christians will be surprised to learn this (as would most Muslims), given that the word jihad is almost always mistranslated in the media as "holy war." H. examines how the struggle to make God known has been manifested in both Christianity and Islam, often through peaceful means, but sometimes through violence. The connection between religion and politics in both traditions is explored in the final two chapters that deal with democracy and human rights.

This is a superb book. Extensively researched, the endnotes are kept to a minimum; those who want further information may consult them, but nonspecialists will not be put off. Although not a textbook, the book is readable enough to assign as supplementary reading for undergraduates, but rich enough to engage them as a primary text. It is required reading for all of us interested in the future of Muslims and Christians, who together make up over half of the world's population.

AMIR HUSSAIN

Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles